Let's Play a Portal 2 Test Chamber (Part 2)

SPOILERS! This post is naturally one big spoiler for one of the puzzles in Portal 2.

This is a follow-up to part 1 in which we performed a fairly thorough sweep of the test chamber to identify all the components that might help us get to the exit.

We're not going to try come up with a complete solution immediately. We have some simple sub-goals to accomplish first. We know that we'll need the first box for use on the button, and the second box, the deflection box, to deflect the laser, so our first goals are to retrieve the two boxes.

The first box looks like the easier of the two. There are no portal-accepting surfaces up near the box and the only one portal-accepting surface that is pointing in that direction is the angled surface marked T before. If we can achieve sufficient momentum and emerge from a portal on that surface we should reach the box. The simplest way to gain momentum is to simply fall from a great height and the simplest way to gain height is the same way we plan to get our box to the ceiling...

Light funnel directed through a portal

Portal at the light funnel and portal on a floor and we now have a light funnel that will force anything towards the ceiling. We step into the light funnel and are pushed up to the ceiling.

Pushed up to the ceiling

Now we have our height, shooting a blue portal anywhere will remove the existing portal through which the light funnel is being directed, allowing us to fall through the orange portal and with that momentum out of the blue portal. As indicated previously, we want to shoot out of the surface T. We simply shoot a blue platform at that surface - we fall; into orange and out of blue, and when we regain our orientation, we are atop the platform right by the box. We take it down to the main level.

Now to the pit area for the next box which is also on a raised area. There's also a conveniently angled portal-accepting surface facing in that direction. So we can try the same technique. Blue portal at the light funnel, orange portal on the floor, and up we go to the ceiling.

Ceiling of the pit area

Shoot a blue portal at the angled surface (S), we fall and are flung out from S ... straight into the light funnel. So that's going to be a problem - we're going to have to disable the light funnel in order to be flung through that gap. That's easy enough: we use our first box to block the laser.

Laser blocked by box

Now the problem is that we no longer have the light funnel for gaining height, so we need another method for gaining the necessary momentum. There a few tricks we can try by fiddling around with jumps and portals in the pit, but none gives us quite enough distance coming out of the portal on surface S. The time has come to take stock of all components in the chamber and see what might help us. Well, we haven't used the faith plate (catapult) yet and it's quite a good source of momentum!

Set up for the faith plate catapult

Orange portal to the faith plate target T and blue portal to our angled surface S. We step onto the faith plate and are flung through T->S and right next to our second box.

With both boxes retrieved, it's a simple matter to set up the finale. The deflection box deflects a laser onto a portal-accepting surface in the pit. The normal box is placed on the floor below the button.

Portals connect the laser to our laser trigger to lower the first elevator platform (4).

Laser trigger triggered

As soon as we break that portal connection, the elevator platform will rise again, so we step on to the elevator. Now to lower the second elevator platform (5), we need to project it up to the ceiling button with the light funnel. But the light funnel's no longer active because the laser is being deflected away from that trigger with the deflection box.

Laser currently deflected by deflector box

No problem! We just shoot a blue portal beneath the deflection box and it will fall out of the orange portal. The laser will trigger the light funnel which we can then use to push the first box up to the ceiling button.

Box is pushed onto button

This lowers the second elevator platform (5) - we get on it and shoot another portal to break the light funnel holding the box against the button. Up we go and we're at the exit!

This isn't the hardest test chamber in the game, but it is one of the more complex as it involves quite a few different elements. It's easy in such situations to forget about a crucial element and go off on your own tangent like I did with fancy portal jumps in my failed attempts to get up to the deflection box. But taking stock of what you have, and thinking through the requirements logically as shown here, is almost always sufficient to get you through all of the Portal 2 test chambers.

Let's Play a Portal 2 Test Chamber (Part 1)

Although I've finished the single player campaign, I still wanting to play some co-op before I review Portal 2. I did comment before that the puzzles were generally on the easier side - to tide over those potentially interested in Portal 2, I'll do a play-by-play of one of the more interesting test chambers in the game. Hopefully you'll glean some insight into the puzzle-solving process or be inspired enough to buy the game.

SPOILERS! This post is naturally one big spoiler for one of the puzzles in Portal 2.

The basic mechanics of Portal 2 are very simple. You carry a gun which can shoot blue portals and orange portals. Shooting a blue portal will clear an existing blue portal; likewise shooting an orange portal clears an existing orange portal. The blue and orange portals are linked - anything passing through one portal will emerge from the other while retaining its existing momentum. These portals can only exist on smooth white surfaces. Test chambers typically have plenty of such surfaces, while they are few and far between in other areas of Aperture Labs.

Overview of the test chamber

First thing we do when we enter the test chamber is identify where the exit is - marked E.

Next we identify all the useful environmental components to the test chamber:

1. Light funnel - this will force any objects caught in the funnel (including our character) directly along the funnel and away from the source, i.e. downward. However it is being directed onto a portal-appropriate surface which will allow us to continue the light funnel in many different places and in different directions. The yellow lighted line indicates that the light funnel is currently turned on because of something down in that pit. We'll have to take a closer look.
2. Box - always handy boxes are, we can carry this around if we can get up to that area.
3. Faith plate - a spring catapult. Closer inspection/experimentation reveals that it will launch us (or any object) at the surface marked T.
4. Elevator platform - follow the light blue line to the right to see what trigger will lower this platform.
5. Elevator platform - follow the light blue line to the left to see what trigger will lower this platform.

Ceiling button

Following the blue line to the left, the upper elevator platform (5) is shown to be controlled by a button on the ceiling. A button won't remain pressed unless you hold it pressed. Normally you can leave a box resting on it, but to keep a button pressed in the ceiling will require a constant force to hold a box up against it. There's only one thing that we've seen that can produce that force, and that's the light funnel. If we can get the box, we can easily send it up and keep it pressing the button.

Laser trigger

Following the other blue line to the right, the lower elevator platform (4) is shown to be controlled by a laser trigger. A laser has to be directed at the trigger to lower the platform. We just have to find a laser then.

Pit area

Inspecting the pit shows us the following components:

1. Laser - a laser source is directly a laser from left to right across the pit. Unfortunately we can't simply use portals to connect the laser up to the previously mentioned laser trigger because it's being projected onto a non-portal-accepting surface.
2. Laser trigger - this trigger controls the light funnel and is currently active.
3. Deflection box - like a normal box except this one can be used to deflect a laser in any horizontal direction. This box is also on a raised area that we can't simply jump to.

That's everything in the test chamber. Maybe you can figure it out before looking at part 2 in which I'll show you how I found a solution.

When One Portal Closes, Another One Opens

Portal 2 was released on Tuesday and being a big fan of the first Portal, this sequel was one of my rare pre-orders. Portal was a brilliant puzzle game where the simple mechanic of being able to link two points in space led to many excellent brain-scratching puzzles, especially in the optional Advanced Chambers. The pre-release hype for Portal 2 has been huge - probably the biggest for a puzzle game that I've ever seen. So, has the game lived up to thy hype?

So far I've only played for a couple of hours of Portal 2's single player story (and there's also a distinct co-op story) and it's brilliant so far. You play as the same character as in the original and the game starts you off waking up years later in the ruined Aperture Science laboratories.

Portal 2's starting room - before and after

Although much of the game (so far) has you running test chambers as in the original Portal, there's still so much that's different:

• Dynamic environments as you see test chambers literally being assembled ahead of you.
• A companion character that accompanies you for much of the time - a personality core that's mostly restricted to following you on the service rails, Wheately injects a lot of humour into the game. This also allows a story to develop that's more than just you versus GLaDOS.
• New puzzle elements - so far I've seen lasers which can be redirected with special cubes; bouncing catapult-type things that will fling you (or any object) in a specific direction; and "light bridges" that you can walk on.

Waking up GLaDOS (in the background), the facility's robot overseer

The game has a steeper learning curve for those with no Portal experience. For them, I'd recommend starting with Portal, just $9.99 on Steam at the moment. As a Portal veteran, I've found the puzzles so far to be a bit too easy. Once you've figured out how the new elements work and interact, the solution has been readily apparent. As I said, I've only played a few hours, so I'm hoping it gets harder, or at least that there are advanced levels to really challenge me.

Expect a full review once I've at least completed the single player and tried some of the co-operative mode.

Edit: Confirmed that there are no Advanced Chambers or Challenges - best we can hope for is that there is equivalent DLC.

Discovering Pinball

I'm been struggling to find much gaming time lately. Mainly this gaming time has been spent working on the next zone for my World of Warcraft zone quest guides (to follow my Darkshore and Ashenvale guides). I did purchase Baldur's Gate 2 from gog.com (Good Old Games) in a hopelessly ambitious attempt to play it multiplayer with a friend of mine. Whether or not we make progress with that, I did include another game in my purchase: Pro Pinball - Big Race USA.

Now my experience with pinball is close to zero (we have a Star Wars-themed pinball machine at work, but it is rarely functioning). Though even with what little experience I have, it's clear that Big Race USA is a very good reproduction of the real thing. It's just one pinball table but has been really well modeled and detailed, down to actual electronic bits on the playfield.

Close-up detail of the Big Race USA pinball table

The theming is flimsy - I can't imagine how difficult it is to capture a theme in a pinball game - as you complete motor racing challenges across the breadth of the USA by hitting indicated ramps or targets. I've started to get the hang of the gameplay and can often make some progress across the map, but reliably hitting lit targets is harder than you'd think, and it's all too easy to quickly lose your ball in the side drains or between your flippers if you're not adept with nudging the table.

Big Race USA normal play

For what it's worth, there's a lot more gameplay here than I was expecting and it's swallowed more hours than I was anticipating. It does get a bit repetitive after a while (especially the music!) but it was definitely a worthwhile purchase for $5.99 that I'd recommend to anyone who's interested in trying out a good PC recreation of pinball.